During summer and fall 2007, I traveled across Europe and studied in Spain. My experiences abroad shaped my reading of certain literary texts as I gained insight into the cultures and settings in which they were produced. In my thesis, I recount some of these experiences and show how my understanding of the novel, Don Quixote, changed due to my contact with Spanish culture.
Through a series of rich images, my travel journal explores how wandering through Spain helped me identify with the characters in Don Quixote, as well as how being immersed in a foreign setting taught me to cope with fear and become a better traveler.
Although the majority of the material for my thesis is drawn from the journal that I kept while in Europe, I also read travel literature to gain outside perspective about how traveling affects one’s worldview. For analyzing Don Quixote, I consulted the primary text and read literary criticism, which elaborated on the novel’s significance and complexity. Hopefully, my readers will be able to relate to and benefit from my experience in a foreign setting and realize how traveling and literature are connected.